2020 Topic 15 - Journalling Gratitude
Hi everyone, Keren here. Do you ever feel frustrated or discontented - in life, or creatively too? Is there a remedy? Well this next quote is worth thinking about..
"Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts".
Henri Frederic Amiel
Journalling our thankfulness can be done in so many ways. It might also inspire us to thankful acts too. Years ago they might just have called it writing a diary ;-) now we have art journals, bullet journals, calendar journalling, food, video and more! We tend towards being grateful for different things, often it might depend on our geographic location or our financial state, but isn't a thankful life one to be emulated?
This topic of journalling gratitude should be one where we reflect upon what we're grateful for, but doing so in a myriad of creative ways. If someone told you to show your gratitude...how would you do it?
Our PaperArtsy bloggers are here to kickstart the process.
Firstly we're starting with Seth Apter who is known for his thoughtful art and this wonderful phrase is a stamp from his recent collection and would make the perfect central focus for a journal page.
Our next designer is Jo Firth-Young and she designed some stamps especially for journallers. I wonder how she'd incorporate her stamps into this topic?
Andrea (the artist) has compiled a really helpful article on how to start gratitude journalling and I love how artistic she's been. Those beautifully drawn flowers could be replaced with stamped images if you used a similar layout for your pages.
Being creative and thankful is an awesome combo. I thought this was a really clever design that ends up being something beautiful to look at too.
But does gratitude journalling have to be in book format? No! I thought this was an excellent idea (roping in others to help) and is also going to adorn your home too.
Wanting to improve being grateful? It seems that having whatever you want to record your thoughts in sorted ahead of time will aid the process. It doesn't need to be fancy. Grab some sturdy panels for the back and front, add in some pages and throw in a few tabs for starters.
Perhaps you need prompts to set you on your way to a more thankful future. There are lots of classes and collaborative schemes. I thought this mixed media artist's class looked like the perfect starting place.
Valeria Sjodin is known for journalling about thankfulness and for a previous Thanksgiving (US holiday) she created these word stones to give to her guests to spark conversations and a thankful heart. Having prompts to encourage gratitude could be useful in your day.
If you love your paints, what about this watercoloured beauty? Creating a page first and enjoying the process of the painting whilst you muse about what you have to be grateful for.
When I was still living with my parents, I did send lots of letters and one of my favourite ways to send letters was using circular writing. I loved it but I think it sent the readers a little loopy! . Jodie York has used circular journalling to great effect, highlighting her gratitude.
Having the right attitude can change our perspective. This artist has created a page to remind her and it made me pause and reflect; 'Gratitude is the parent of all virtues'.
Heading back towards our PaperArtsy roots, Scrapcosy has so many ideas for creating journal pages and if you need inspiration for using your stamps, look no further! Search Scrapcosy in the search bar on the PaperArtsy blog and you'll have a whole catalogue of ideas.
We've already seen an example by this artist, Karenika, but I thought that this tied into something we've been seeing a fair bit of (I'm talking about Mandalas; check out Tracy Scott and Jo Firth-Young for more ideas). You can create something similar with individual stamps/stencils or some of the mandala inspired stamps by JOFY.
Christmas is coming and maybe you like making personal gifts? How about a fabric gratitude journal to encourage thankfulness in your friends and family? For the sewers amongst you, this one is a great idea and would be perfect to keep for a while, changing out the inner notebooks once they're filled with grateful scribblings.
Lori Vliegen has some really creative ideas for expressing her gratitude. I thought this might give us some ideas about presenting your ideas on a page.
Before we wrap this topic introduction up, I'll leave you with a fabric journal wrap. We've focused so much on the inside of the journal that we've not even concentrated on the outside. Here's a fun and bright journal cover that would encourage me to open up and get journalling. Grab your Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and get painting!
I've certainly been grateful for such a wealth of grateful artists worldwide, that has made compiling this introduction such a straightforward process. I'm grateful for being part of the wonderful PaperArtsy family that's so welcoming, supportive and inspiring. What are you thankful for? Let's make our days much more grateful ones.
If you want to create along with us while we explore this topic, please share your makes on our social feeds so we can follow along. Instagram @paperartsy or why not join us and post in the PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. Make sure you tag us in your contributions, we love to see what you get up to in your creative world!
2 comments:
Nice post Keren.. it's a learning curve too seeing these examples.. will check some out!
We are grateful for all of the pearls of wisdom you share. An uplifting blog topic and thoughtful and well written post by Keren as always. Thank you!
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